LuAnn Nigara

A Well-Designed Business® | Interior Design Business Podcast

In today's world being a talented interior designer isn't enough to ensure that you have a profitable and successful business. Design school curricula doesn't always equip you with the business skills to have your interior design business be everything you imagined it would be! A Well-Designed Business® is here to fill in the gaps and give you real live business skills from some of the top interior designers. Your host, LuAnn Nigara shares her 40 years of success in the interior design industry, and she finds the most successful guests to share their interior design business best practices. Th...

Author

LuAnn Nigara

Category

Business

Podcast website

luannnigara.com

Latest episode

Jul 10, 2026

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Episodes

284: Caitlyn Waite: Savvy Giving by Design’s 1st Affiliate in Mobile, Alabama 15.01.2018

Welcome to today's show. Our guest for today is Caitlyn Waite, an interior designer from Mobile Alabama. Caitlyn has been chosen to head up the very first affiliate chapter of Savvy Giving By Design, a really wonderful organization started by Susan Wintersteen (#164) with a mission to provide comfort, healing, and support to families with a child facing a medical crisis. This is done by transformi...

283: Power Talk Friday: Madeleine MacRae: Set Clear Goals in 5 Steps 12.01.2018

Welcome to today's Power Talk Friday. We are really happy to introduce you to today's guest, Madeleine Macrae. Madeleine and LuAnn are going to be co-presenters at the International Window Coverings Expo in Tampa Florida this March. Listen in today to find out more about Madeleine, why she's here on the show and why she's been invited to present at the Window Coverings Expo. Madeleine is the highl...

282: Blanche Garcia - You Teach Clients How to Treat You 10.01.2018

Today's guest is Blanche Garcia, a certified interior designer with more than eighteen years of experience in commercial and residential design. Blanche is one of the principal designers featured in the Travel Channel reality series Hotel Impossible and she was also a contestant in season six of HGTV Design Star. Blanche owns a design business and she also does a lot of speaking at design industry...

281: Anita Dawson: How to Work with Architects & Builders Successfully 08.01.2018

We have Anita Dawson with us on the show today. She is the president and owner of the Dawson Design Group, a full-service interior design firm based in San Diego Southern California. DDG specializes in all things modern, and since 2007 they have completed more than a hundred projects in Southern California, Chicago, and Atlanta. They have been awarded The Design Impact Award and Design Excellence...

280: Power Talk Friday - Adam Urbanski: Dream Business Design Process - How to identify what you want most to sell to your most ideal client 05.01.2018

The guest for today's Power Talk Friday is Adam Urbanski, aka The Millionaire Marketing Mentor and he's a real headliner in Online Marketing and Podcast circles! There are so many ways that Adam could really help and influence all LuAnn's Designer friends to get that extra 'something' to tweak their businesses, so today, she's decided to go with Adam's Dream Business Design Process. Listen in to f...

279: Candy Scott: Practical Advice to Launch, Grow and Sustain Your Interior Design Firm 03.01.2018

My guest for today’s amazing show is Candy Scott, the Principal of MOOD Design + Build, based in Chicago. She gives practical advice on launching, growing, and sustaining an interior design business. Candy has 15 years’ experience in both commercial and residential design. She graduated from Meredith College in Raleigh, NC, with a BS in Interior Design. You’ll hear her describe how her early exper...

278: Erika Ward - Master Business Skills 1st, Interior Design Skills 2nd. 01.01.2018

On today’s show, we have the lovely Erika Ward! Erika started out as an accountant for a design, build company. While still working in corporate settings she started her own firm called “Erika Ward Interiors”. She used her background in financing and her creative side to grow her business and has since then built her business to the greatness that it is now. Erika not only works with individual cl...

277: Stephanie Chung - You Are a Salesperson and You Are an Interior Designer 29.12.2017

Welcome to another episode of Power talk Friday! Today LuAnn has Stephanie Chung with her on the show. Stephanie has a company called Stephanie Chung and Associates, where she offers Sales Training, Executive Coaching and also Small Business Mentorship, to companies nationwide. Stephanie also has a course, called High Ticket Selling Made Simple which has been designed to help business owners sell...

276: Judi Kieffer: Steps to Build a Hospitality / Commercial Interior Design Firm 27.12.2017

My guest today is Judi Kieffer, who has over 24 years’ experience in hospitality, luxury residential, and restaurant design. Her portfolio is full of top-tier projects and satisfied clients. In our conversation, she shares advice about how she built and now manages her design firm in Boise, Idaho. Judi is involved as an advocate for the personal and professional development and for sustainable pro...

275: Replay: Andrea Schumacher: Managing a Mid-Size Interior Design Firm 25.12.2017

Welcome back! Our guest today has been in the interior design business for 17 years! Andrea Schumacher started her own eight-person firm, Andrea Schumacher Interior Design, including herself in Colorado in 1999. Andrea has experience in commercial and residential spaces and she has set design for television at Days of Our Lives and Columbia Pictures! She has a BA in interior design from the F.I.D....

274: Power Talk Friday: Kae Whitaker- Part 2 of Email Marketing for your Interior Design Firm 22.12.2017

We have Kae Whitaker with us once again on today's Power Talk Friday- this time for her fifth appearance on the show! She appeared previously on episodes #26, #66, #114 where she discussed branding, how to hire and train interns, how to conduct a proper year-end review of your business and last month on episode #259 she spoke about the subject and content of a typical sale funnel email sequence fo...

273: Dixie Willard: Visibility and Your Interior Design Firm 20.12.2017

Welcome to today's show! We have Dixie Willard, of Dixie Willard Design in Tennessee, with us today. Dixie is a co-host of the Design and Style Podcast with Rachel Moriarty, of Rachel Moriarty Interiors and today we will be talking to her about the  Design and Style Community and about how her partnership with Rachel and their podcast came about. Today, Dixie also discusses her own business and sh...

272: Laura Thurman: Tips for Building Relationships with Industry Peers & Leaders 18.12.2017

Today’s guest is Laura Thurman of Laura Thurman Design Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. She specializes in a global aesthetic that is filtered through a modern lens influenced by her upbringing in Los Angeles, as well as her world travels. Laura Thurman Design Studio services include custom interiors, re-design, weekend styling, and in-field developer selections. Laura talks about the importance of...

271: Power Talk Friday: Husband & Wife Teams- This Week is LuAnn & Vin Nigara 15.12.2017

Welcome to today's episode of Power Talk Friday! LuAnn has a really special treat in store for you today - her husband, Vince will be joining her on the show! LuAnn has recently had a lot of people asking her to address the topic of husband and wife teams, working together. She recently interviewed Syd and Shea McGee, of Studio McGee (#270) and there are also a few more interviews scheduled with h...

270: Shea & Syd McGee: Building a Design Empire Involves a Lot of Hustle 13.12.2017

Welcome to today's show! We really have the most amazing surprise for all of you today- we have Syd and Shea McGee, of Studio McGee on the show with us! Shea was on the show about a month ago, (episode #236) where she talked about how Studio McGee was created in a spare bedroom and then, after many late nights of brainstorming and sharing their dreams, Shea and Syd decided to turn what was a small...

269: Nina Magon: Building a Team For Your Design Firm 11.12.2017

Welcome to today's show! We have Nina Magen, the Principal of Contour Interior Design, on the show with us today. Nina is a very savvy lady, who has a lot going on, on both the business and the Design side. The fact that she is driven is evident in the nine-year rise of her Design Firm and it also shows in the way that she runs her business. Today we talk to Nina about the significant impression i...

268: Power Talk Friday: Ashley Faulkes- Maximizing SEO for Your Interior Design Firm 08.12.2017

Welcome to another episode of Power Talk Friday! We have Ashley Faulkes, the CEO of Mad Lemmings with us on the show today. Ashley creates Wordpress websites and he also is an SEO expert, which is one of the main reasons that LuAnn invited him onto the show. She knows that there are many of you out there, wondering about the merits of blogging and wanting to find out how to go about doing it. This...

267: Rasheeda Gray: A Pipeline With Over 20 Interior Design Projects in Under 2 Years 06.12.2017

Welcome to today's show! Our guest for today is Rasheeda Gray, the Principal of Gray Space Interior Design, which is located in the Philadelphia Metro area. Gray Space is still a side hustle for Rasheeda at this point in time and yet in just under two years, she has already had more than twenty projects! You're probably wondering how she has managed to do this, so today she shares three strategies...

266: Remya Warrior: How To Network in 7 Steps 04.12.2017

Today we have Remya Warrior on the show with us and she's a New Jersey Interior Designer with a Master's Degree as well as fourteen years of experience in the field. She is active in both the WCAA (Window Coverings Association of America), where she is currently the Vice President of the New Jersey chapter, and also in ASID in New Jersey, where she is the featured Tech Talk host. Listen in today,...

265: Power Talk Friday: FreshBooks for Your Interior Design Firm 01.12.2017

Welcome to Power Talk Friday! We have an interview with FreshBooks today. A few months ago, FreshBooks and LuAnn started talking about them becoming a regular sponsor for this show.  As pretty smart business people, they both wanted to find out more about one another before joining forces, to see who they would be getting involved with. FreshBooks asked to do a trial of two or three thirty second...

264: Design Biz Live: How to Manage Not Being the Project Manager 29.11.2017

How many times have you, as a Designer,  felt like you were caught between your client and the Contractor? You know the kinds of situations where you have created a floor plan for space, only to find, on your next visit to the site, that a wall has been moved... So, what happens when this happens? Listen in now, to find out. Judith Neary and Corey Klassen have some terrific insights and advice for...

263: Amanda Evans: Creating Growth in Your Interior Design Firm 27.11.2017

Welcome to today's show! Our guest for today, Amanda Evans, is someone you may know through Instagram. She is the Founder and Principal of Amanda Evans Interiors, which is based in Vancouver. Amanda opened her business in 2009, before the birth of  Theo, her first child. Today Amanda talks to LuAnn about what work looked like for her before Theo came into her life, what it looked like after Theo b...

262: Power Talk Friday - Dezignwall- What is it? With Joseph Haecker 24.11.2017

Welcome to another Power Talk Friday! Today LuAnn is really excited to have Joe Haecker, The CEO and Founder of Dezignwall, with her on the show. Listen in to find out more about this awesome social network platform, created specifically for the Design community. Dezignwall is the fastest growing network for Design and Architectural professionals, worldwide. It is the very first social platform to...

261: Shannon Tate: The Road to Interior Design isn’t Always Straight 22.11.2017

Welcome to today's episode! We have Shannon Tate, a real go-getter, with us on the show today. She opened her business, Shannon Tate Interiors, in 2012, after having worked in a very diverse range of artistic fields, such Acting, Fine Art, Fashion, Writing, Lifestyle Coaching and even spending some time working as a Private Chef. Shannon, who is also a Certified Holistic Health Coach, loves to pai...

260: Chaney Widmer - A 100% E-Design Interior Design Firm 20.11.2017

A special 'hello' to all our new listeners and a warm welcome to the show!  Today we are really happy to introduce you to our guest, Chaney Widmer, the Founder of Mix And Match Design Company. Chaney is a very smart lady, who saw a need in the market and created a really innovative way to fill it. She offers One On One Decorating Services, through her  E-Design and Online Interior Design and on he...

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